Lost 73 pounds, something is broken, help!

emtjmac

Something is broken in my diet. I'm thinking that I am not eating enough but I want to know what some of you think. I feel hungry most days despite trying to keep a healthy and balanced diet but since taking a lot of time off after the holidays, mostly due to just being depressed, I just can't seem to keep it consistent. My willpower carries me through for 3 or 4 days and then I binge like I did today. I literally stood over my stove with the 4oz of steak I was going to eat, shaking with hunger and debating with my wife about what the right thing to do was, when I finally gave in to the realization that I was going to be just as hungry after dinner as I was after lunch and freaked out. This is not my first rodeo; I've lost 73 pounds. I don't remember this being as hard before I fell off the horse post-holidays. My last binge was Monday and that was worse than today. I'm a paramedic and I work 24 hour shifts on Friday and Sunday on a slow truck. I get on the treadmill on those days and walk a little but no major exercise and the rest of the time I'm on the couch or in bed for the most part, unless it's busy all day which is extremely rare in my city. On THOSE days, the 1530 calories seems like enough. When I'm home, I'm helping my wife with our 4 children (the oldest is 5) but I'm not THAT much more active than I am at the station other than my running and strength training and taking the minivan to the grocery store. I used to eat exercise calories back VERY rarely but now I'm trying to be better about that and it STILL seems harder than it was before. Should I be increasing my calories? If so, should I switch to 1lb loss per week or just change activity level to lightly active? Could really use some advice as I'm training for an October marathon and I really want to drop another 40-50 pounds by then. Thanks in advance.

Symonep

I eat more than 1500 calories...so I imagine that you really need to be as well. I'd guess that you would need at least another 500 cal on top of what you are eating!! Hopefully you get it all sorted soon

BlueObsidian

I would definitely start by dropping your target weight loss to 1 pound per week. With the amount of weight you still have to lose, that is a good target and the extra food should help. If you are literally shaking with hunger, your body is telling you that you aren't eating enough.

wmoomoo

You might want to recalculate your TDEE and eat -20% of it. Take a look at this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/912920-in-place-of-a-road-map-3-2013?hl=Road+map+2013

eowynmn

I can't imagine a man eating 1500 calories on his last 5 lbs to lose, who doesn't exercise at all. You need to up those calories big time, and eat what you burn. You should NOT be shaking with hunger!!!

emtjmac

I eat more than 1500 calories...so I imagine that you really need to be as well. I'd guess that you would need at least another 500 cal on top of what you are eating!! Hopefully you get it all sorted soon

You're right, I'm trying the roadmap.

lachesissss

You need to eat more. And eat if you're hungry especially. You are probably compromising your muscle mass by eating as little as you do, and you're compromising your mental health by entering into cycles in which you're strict and then binge. I'm hangry at 1500 cals, and if you are you need more food simple. Being strict about your diet is one thing, but at this stage of the game extreme strictness is counterproductive.

Research your BMR and TDEE. And for a jumping off point, I would try your TDEE -20%. Check out fat2fitradio's calculators for a jumping off point.

barb1241

Start back slowly and work your way to the way that was working before? Make little changes at a time. Get secure with those, then make more small changes. Don't make it about "all or nothing".

sphinctress

Just a thought... shaking with hunger may be indicative of low blood sugar... your body's way of telling you to eat. This could be from not getting enough calories at 1500... like others have already said... if increasing your intake doesn't resolve this issue, and you find yourself urinating a lot, you might want to check in with your dr.

emtjmac

You need to eat more. And eat if you're hungry especially. You are probably compromising your muscle mass by eating as little as you do, and you're compromising your mental health by entering into cycles in which you're strict and then binge. I'm hangry at 1500 cals, and if you are you need more food simple. Being strict about your diet is one thing, but at this stage of the game extreme strictness is counterproductive.

Research your BMR and TDEE. And for a jumping off point, I would try your TDEE -20%. Check out fat2fitradio's calculators for a jumping off point.

Well why is MFP putting me at 1530 for 2lbs/wk loss?

lpina2mi

"Shaking with hunger" is alarming. There may be something going on with your body chemistry. Please check-in with your healthcare professional.

emtjmac

"Shaking with hunger" is alarming. There may be something going on with your body chemistry. Please check-in with your healthcare professional.

Already did that 2 weeks ago, my numbers are great.

Elleinnz

You need to eat more. And eat if you're hungry especially. You are probably compromising your muscle mass by eating as little as you do, and you're compromising your mental health by entering into cycles in which you're strict and then binge. I'm hangry at 1500 cals, and if you are you need more food simple. Being strict about your diet is one thing, but at this stage of the game extreme strictness is counterproductive.

Research your BMR and TDEE. And for a jumping off point, I would try your TDEE -20%. Check out fat2fitradio's calculators for a jumping off point.

Well why is MFP putting me at 1530 for 2lbs/wk loss?

MFP also tells you to eat back your exercise calories - and seeing that you are training for a marathon I suspect there are quite a few of those......

BaconMD

I eat more than 1500 calories...so I imagine that you really need to be as well. I'd guess that you would need at least another 500 cal on top of what you are eating!! Hopefully you get it all sorted soon

You're right, I'm trying the roadmap.

You will not regret it.

I eat 2700ish calories every day now. I was hungry and shaky at 2400... I couldn't imagine almost a thousand less than that!

Don't be afraid of food, man.

I like the TDEE calculator from IIFYM.com, myself, only because I can set various amounts of time at each activity level rather than choosing one of five or so options. I took off a low percentage, maybe 10%, and I've still seen my weight drop since switching to this method.

kusterer

When I get psychologically hungry (not physiologically hungry) and start seeing, smelling, cooking the food, I can get fumble-fingered and even shaking. It doesn't have to be any health danger sign, you are just "trembling with anticipation."

BlueObsidian

You need to eat more. And eat if you're hungry especially. You are probably compromising your muscle mass by eating as little as you do, and you're compromising your mental health by entering into cycles in which you're strict and then binge. I'm hangry at 1500 cals, and if you are you need more food simple. Being strict about your diet is one thing, but at this stage of the game extreme strictness is counterproductive.

Research your BMR and TDEE. And for a jumping off point, I would try your TDEE -20%. Check out fat2fitradio's calculators for a jumping off point.

Well why is MFP putting me at 1530 for 2lbs/wk loss?

Because MFP is just a simple calculator. You put in your information and goals, and it spits out a number. If you have under 50 pounds to lose, 2 pounds a week is too ambitious a target. Drop the goal to a more reasonable 1 pound a week, and it'll give you a more reasonable amount of calories.

katerinajulia

You need to eat more. And eat if you're hungry especially. You are probably compromising your muscle mass by eating as little as you do, and you're compromising your mental health by entering into cycles in which you're strict and then binge. I'm hangry at 1500 cals, and if you are you need more food simple. Being strict about your diet is one thing, but at this stage of the game extreme strictness is counterproductive.

Research your BMR and TDEE. And for a jumping off point, I would try your TDEE -20%. Check out fat2fitradio's calculators for a jumping off point.

Well why is MFP putting me at 1530 for 2lbs/wk loss?

MFP tends to WAY underestimate the number of calories you need - putting your body into starvation mode. MFP says I should eat 1200 calories a day, yet at 1700 I see the same - if not better - results.

emtjmac

most people binge on highly processed foods. Looks like that's what you did today. Cut it out or limit it.

Are you saying that when I binge I should binge on whole foods as opposed to junk food? I'd like to not binge at all and instead just find a balance where I can lose weight and never have to feel like I'm going to lose my mind between meals because I'm craving sugar so badly.

joe_d

Man, I'm with you all the way. I'm nominally on 1560 cals/day, and I'd been trying to not eat more than 200 of my exercise cals (most days I'm in the 600-900 cals burned range). Seems like not enough net cals, but I've been feeling energetic enough and it was working well until recently. I'm having a little harder time now sustaining that 1.3 lb a week like clockwork loss, and there are days when I'm just really hungry. So yeah, I'm eating back a bit more of the exercise cals and seeing where that takes me.

However, after scanning your diary a bit, and the one thing I can suggest is something that does kind of work for me. I literally stuff myself with veggies at lunch and dinner to get that full feeling. At lunch, it's a good double handful of baby carrots (150 grams worth) and some mini peppers to go along with my sandwich and fruit. Really low cal, but very filling. At dinner, usually always a big salad that I try to make interesting with a variety of stuff and my own low sodium vinaigrette or a low cal store-bought. Or it's some other vegetable we cook in a low cal way that I fix up with a variety of spices and such. I add to that enough protein and carbs to meet my macros. While making dinner, to take the edge of hunger I'll pull out the celery and cherry tomatoes. For me the trick is to not try to discipline myself to not eat, but rather to "overindulge" in the stuff that won't hurt me.

Good luck. I feel your pain. But 73 lost already is amazing and a tremendous accomplishment and proves you've got what it takes to do this thing. Keep on keeping on...

BaconMD

Well why is MFP putting me at 1530 for 2lbs/wk loss?

MFP is stupid, that's why. Seriously. It makes a calculation of what you'd need to maintain at a given activity level (not counting exercise) and then it subtracts 500 calories per day for each pound per week that you want to lose. You chose 2lbs, so it knocks off 1000 calories per day... And many people put in Sedentary as their activity level, even if they aren't actually sedentary... If you did that, it's a double-whammy. Not eating exercise calories is a triple whammy. Wham, wham, wham, fail.

Go the TDEE - 10-20% route. It's better, easier to plan for, you don't eat back exercise calories so you don't have to track them. I find it liberating and motivating, to be honest.

BlueObsidian

most people binge on highly processed foods. Looks like that's what you did today. Cut it out or limit it.

Are you saying that when I binge I should binge on whole foods as opposed to junk food? I'd like to not binge at all and instead just find a balance where I can lose weight and never have to feel like I'm going to lose my mind between meals because I'm craving sugar so badly.

Find the balance by eating a balanced amount every day. Take a look through your diary. Do you see a pattern? I do. You have a couple days where you are 800 or 900 calories below your goal. Then you binge. Then you have a couple days way below your goal. Then you binge. I still suggest changing your target, but at the very least eat all your calories every day.